During the winter of 1882-3 Dr. Herman V. Hilprecht, Professor of Assyrian in the University of Pennsylvania, was working with Professor Friedrich Delitzsch and was preparing to publish, as his dissertation, a text, transliteration and translation of a stone of Nebuchadnezzar I, with notes.

He accepted at that time the explanation given by Professor Delitzsch of the name Nebuchadnezzar [or] Nabû-kudûrru-usur--"Nebo protect my mason's pad, or mortar board", i.e., "my work as a builder."

One night after working late, he went to bed about two o'clock in the morning. After a somewhat restless sleep, he awoke with his mind full of the thought that the name should be translated "Nebo protect my boundary." He had a dim consciousness of having been working at his table in a dream, but he could never recall the details of the process by which he arrived at this conclusion. Reflecting upon it when awake, however, he at once saw that kudûrru "boundary," could be derived from the verb kadâru, to enclose.

I quote this experience, in itself of a familiar type, on account of its interest when viewed with the more curious dream next to be related. I was told of the latter shortly after it happened, and here translate an account written in German by Professor Hilprecht August 8, 1893, before the more complete confirmation was received.

One Saturday evening about the middle of March, 1893, I had been wearying myself, as I had done so often in the weeks preceding, in the vain attempt to decipher two small fragments of agate which were supposed to belong to the finger rings of some Babylonian. The labor was much increased by the fact that the fragments presented remnants only of characters and lines, that dozens of similar small fragments had been found in the ruins of the temple of Bel at Nippur with which nothing could be done, that in this case, furthermore, I had never had the originals before me, but only a hasty sketch made by one of the members of the expedition sent by the University of Pennsylvania to Babylonia.

I could not say more than the fragments, taking into consideration the place in which they were found and the peculiar characteristics of the cuneiform characters preserved upon them, sprang from the Cassite period of Babylonian history (ca. 1700 to 1140 BC); moreover, as the first character of the third line of the first fragment seemed to be KU, I ascribed this fragment [tentatively] to King Kurigalzu, while I placed the other fragment as unclassifiable with other Cassite fragments upon a page of my book where I published the unclassifiable fragments. The proofs already lay before me, but I was far from satisfied. The whole problem passed yet again through my mind that March evening before I placed my mark of approval upon the last correction in the book. Even then I had come to no conclusion. About midnight, weary and exhausted, I went to bed and was soon in deep sleep. Then I dreamed the following remarkable dream:

A tall, thin priest of the old pre-Christian Nippur, about forty years of age and clad in a simple abba, led me to the treasure chamber of the temple, on its southeast side. He went with me into a small, low-ceiled room without windows, in which there was a large wooden chest, while scraps of agate and lapis lazuli lay scattered on the floor. Here he addressed me as follows:

"The two fragments which you have published separately on pages 22 and 26 belong together, are not finger rings and their history is as follows: King Kurigalzu [ca. 1300 BC] once sent to the temple of Bel, among other articles of agate and lapis lazuli, an inscribed votive cylinder of agate. Then we priests suddenly received the command to make for the statue of the god Ninib a pair of earrings of agate. We were in great dismay, since there was no agate as raw material at hand. In order to execute the command there was nothing for us to do but cut the votive cylinder into three parts, thus making three rings, each of which contained a portion of the original inscription. The first two rings served as earrings for the statue of the god; the two fragments which have given you so much trouble are portions of them. If you will put the two together you will have confirmation of my words. But the third ring you have not found in the course of your excavations and you never will find it." With this the priest disappeared.

I woke at once and immediately told my wife the dream that I might not forget it. Next morning--Sunday--I examined the fragments once more in the light of these disclosures, and to my astonishment found all the details of the dream precisely verified in so far as the means of verification were in my hands. The original inscription on the votive cylinder reads: "To the god Ninib, son of Bel, his lord, has Kurigalzu, pontifex of Bel, presented this." The problem was thus at last solved... H. V. Hilprecht."

[A full page follows, detailing two years of fact-checking by Newbold and Hilprecht. Newbold concludes:]

There are two especial points of interest in this case, the character of the information conveyed, and the dramatic form in which it was put. The apparently novel points of information given were:

1. That the fragments belonged together.
2. That they were fragments of a votive cylinder.
3. That the cylinder was presented by King Kurigalzu.
4. That is was dedicated to Ninib.
5. That it had been made into a pair of earrings.
6. That the "treasure chamber" was located upon the southeast side of the temple.

EDITOR'S NOTE

Though Hilprecht didn't explicitly ask for a revelatory dream (the practice of incubation), he might as well have! He pondered his problem, reviewed the data, then slept on it. Same as a pilgrim to an Asclepian healing-temple 2500 years ago.

You can believe in a ghostly, helpful priest if you want, but I agree with Newbold here--the dream relinking the two long-sundered earrings looks more like a brilliant use of cryptomnesia. We remember more than we can consciously access, and we can data-crunch--at least while dreaming!

--Chris Wayan

SOURCE: The New World of Dreams, Ralph Woods & Herbert Greenhouse, eds., 1974; p.46-50. (orig. source Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, v.12, 1896.)

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